How SARS officers tortured me — Evans

How SARS officers tortured me — Evans

Alleged kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, on Friday, October 26, gave graphic details of how members of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), tortured him and killed 30 people in his presence.

Nigerian Tribune reports that Evans, who made the revelation on Friday, October 26, during the continuation of a trial-within-trial at an Ikeja high court, claimed that the security agents killed the victims by suffocating them with nylon (plastic bags).

Evans is facing trial alongside six others on a two-count charge conspiracy and kidnapping.

Evans, while being led in evidence by his lawyer, Olanrewaju Ajanaku, described himself as a businessman dealing in haulage and ornaments resident at No. 3, Fred Soyebode street, Magodo Lagos.

He said: “Insp Idowu Haruna (member of IGP Intelligence Response Team) took me to Abuja and brought me back to Lagos where I was at the Inspector General (IG) Guest House at Obalende, Lagos. Sunny the 2 I/C (second in command) to Abba Kyari, Mr Christian Ugu, Mr Phillip and other police officers working with them were there. Idowu Haruna brought about 25 sheets of paper and asked me to sign, that day, my mind told me not to sign because it might be my death warrant.

“One of them, one Mr Phillip put his hand in his pocket and brought out a brown hospital card, he showed it to me and told me to sign it while saying that ‘do you think that we are joking here, he said if anything happens to me here this card covers everything.”

“Mr Phillip said the police will not be held responsible and before I knew what was happening, Mr Christian slapped me and that was how they started beating me,” Evans told the court.

“Mr Christian Ugu was smoking, he quenched the cigarette on my hand, My Lord look at my head where they beat me, My lord look at my hand?

“They took me to the backyard of the IG’s guesthouse, I sustained injuries on my head and body and Mr Phillip asked the policemen to walk on me and when I started bleeding, he said you think we are joking here.

“At the backyard, I saw some people that I was paraded with, they were wearing leg chains, some of them had bullet wounds on their legs and Mr Phillip ordered Idowu Haruna to bring a big brown cellotape, handkerchief and polybags.

“Idowu Haruna forced a handkerchief into the mouth of one of them, he used the cellotape to tightly tape his mouth and face and put a polybag over his head and cellotaped it and used another poly bag and cellotaped it for the second time and they left the man on the ground.

“The man on the ground was shaking, he pissed (urinated) on his body, he poo pooed (defecated) on his body and after a while he went quiet.

“Idowu Haruna went to the man and stepped on his body and he was unresponsive and he told me can you see I have traveled him.”

“Phillip asked if I knew the method of killing and I said no; they said that it is called ‘Saddam Hussein’. He said that there is no way an autopsy can predict the cause of death of the five people they had just killed.”

Evans said after witnessing the execution, 25 sheets of paper were brought for him to sign as his confessional statements. He noted he was trembling with fear.

“Abba Kyari told me to beg for forgiveness in my interview with journalists, and also to inform the world I had cancer which I don’t have. The police also killed one Felix Chinemeri in my presence,” he added

After listening to the submission of Evans, the trial judge, Hakeem Oshodi adjourned the case until November 23 for continuation of defence in the trial-within-trial.